On racial caricatures in the Prequels

As somebody who (sometimes regrettably) finds herself ankle-deep in the Star Wars fandom, I see a lot of reoccurring talking points regarding the prequels, but I barely ever see anybody talk about the racial caricatures present in those films.Then I looked it up, and it turns out there's some debate on wether or not there are racial caricatures at all.To me it seems fairly obvious that they exist, at the very least. The two main offenders are the Trade Federation and Watto. The trade federation are given rather thick "Japanese" accents, along with narrower eyes, for example. But the real offender is Watto, with the undeniably Yiddish accent, the "shrewd greedy salesman" character, even the hooked nose traditional to Jewish caricatures. Moreso, the second movie gives him a beard. (There are also the Gungans, but there seems to be argument on which race they're even a caricature of, so I feel like that one is more up to your reading of it than the other two.)I've heard the argument that since they're aliens any racial caricatures are projected on, so if I find them racist that makes me racist, but I don't understand that argument at all. Racist caricatures are, by definition, dehumanizing. Making them aliens is a very good way to portray perceived traits of an entire race in a "weird" or negative light.Anyway, I'm curious what everybody here thinks of this. Are there racial caricatures in the prequels or not? If so, are they offensive? (in my opinion: yes. Exactly zero percent of them are positive whatsoever) What do we all think of this, as a collective of fans?Also, I understand this subject might be... touchy... so, comment with caution and awareness of other people's feelings on this subject. That's all I ask. via /r/StarWars https://ift.tt/2CEDA3S